Val d'Isere Snow Report: 25th February 2016

A metre or more of snow heading our way?

featured in Snow report Author Wayne Watson, Val d'Isere Reporter Updated 3 March 2016

As the snow continues to fall what started as a dry and worrying start to the season has turned into one of the best winters in recent memory, and all that talk about ‘it doesn’t snow anymore’ and negative British press seems a bit silly now. (To be honest the British press is always negative at the start of every season).

But wow, the off-piste skiing has been stunning and although we haven’t had that much sunshine over the past eight weeks we’ve had enough light to navigate and ski with positivity. The flat-light makes leading groups more stressful but has the massive bonus of keeping people away and we’ve enjoyed fabulous skiing in relative solitude, which is especially appreciated when the Espace Killy is jam-packed.

Once the sun comes out you find out how many people are actually in town and personally I’m savouring the conditions at the moment. As soon as the sun comes out we’ll have a ‘powder-frenzy’ as everyone suddenly becomes an off-piste expert, and quite frankly a ‘powder-frenzy’ is an ugly sight, is stressful and should be avoided at all costs.

As for the piste skiing, it hasn’t been the best unless you get out early and take advantage of the wonderful grooming in both Val d’Isere and Tignes. First thing in the morning the pistes are immaculate but with the fresh snow they become bumpy very quickly and with flat-light the bumps are not much fun at all. In fact, some of my clients take the lifts down at the end of our off-piste mornings to avoid the crowds and fatigue of skiing bumpy pistes.

Once we finally come back to a period of high-pressure the piste skiing will improve drastically, but for the past eight-weeks or so the snow has constantly fallen with very few consecutive days of sunshine the pistes don’t have the chance to firm up to their optimum condition.

It has snowed all of Thursday afternoon and some sunshine is forecast for Friday morning and even with all the snow and wind the risk has been a steady 3/5 all week.

Weather in the resort:

Friday- Sunny with high thin cloud -8C/+1C Wind from the SE at 10km/h
Saturday- Cloudy -6C/+1C Wind from the SE at 10km/h
Sunday- Partially sunny with snow -5C/+1C Wind from the SE at 5km/h
Monday- Partially sunny with snow -6C/-1C Wind from the NW at 5km/h

This forecast doesn’t look like much snow is on the way but with the easterly wind the local rumour is for the first retour de l’est of the season, and we’re hoping for 150cm’s of snow toward the Fornet and Italian border. Tignes will see significantly less snow as a retour de l’est is a phenomenon that greatly effects the Italian border near the Col de Galisse, the Col Pers and the Pissaillas Glacier. The further away from the border the less snow falls and sometimes Tignes will only see 10cm’s or so when the Fornet will receive one metre or more. Fingers crossed as it is a spectacular event!

Have a wonderful weekend and stay tuned for another update on Monday!

For more updates on a daily basis, follow Wayne's blog.